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Escudar is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to shield, protect”.
Below are all of the conjugations for escudar in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.
The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.
The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.
| English Infinitive | to shield, protect |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | escudar |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está escudando) and past continuous (estaba escudando). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. shielding).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he escudado and hubiera escudado. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have shielded).
| Gerundio / Gerund | escudando |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | escudado |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I shield” or “they shield”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | escudo |
| Tú | escudas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escuda |
| Nosotros / as | escudamos |
| Vosotros / as | escudáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escudan |
| Vos | escudás |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I shielded” or “she shielded” in English.
In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escudé | I shielded |
| Tú | escudaste | You shielded |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escudó | He / she / you shielded |
| Nosotros / as | escudamos | We shielded |
| Vosotros / as | escudasteis | You shielded |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escudaron | They / you shielded |
| Vos | escudaste | You shielded |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was shielding” or “she was shielding” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escudaba | I was shielding |
| Tú | escudabas | You were shielding |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escudaba | He was / she was / you were shielding |
| Nosotros / as | escudábamos | We were shielding |
| Vosotros / as | escudabais | You were shielding |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escudaban | They / you were shielding |
| Vos | escudabas | You were shielding |
The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.
In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have shielded” and “she has shielded”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he escudado | I have shielded |
| Tú | has escudado | You have shielded |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha escudado | He has / she has / you have shielded |
| Nosotros / as | hemos escudado | We have shielded |
| Vosotros / as | habéis escudado | You have shielded |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han escudado | They / you have shielded |
| Vos | has escudado | You have shielded |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would shield” or “she would shield”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escudaría | I would shield |
| Tú | escudarías | You would shield |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escudaría | He / she / you would shield |
| Nosotros / as | escudaríamos | We would shield |
| Vosotros / as | escudaríais | You would shield |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escudarían | They / you would shield |
| Vos | escudarías | You would shield |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will shield” or “they will shield”.
It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a escudar” means “They are going to shield”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escudaré | I will shield |
| Tú | escudarás | You will shield |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escudará | He / she / you will shield |
| Nosotros / as | escudaremos | We will shield |
| Vosotros / as | escudaréis | You will shield |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escudarán | They / you will shield |
| Vos | escudarás | You will shield |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | escude |
| Tú | escudes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escude |
| Nosotros / as | escudemos |
| Vosotros / as | escudéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escuden |
| Vos | escudes |
There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.
The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).
There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.
| Pronoun | Spanish era/ara | Spanish ese/ase |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | escudara | escudase |
| Tú | escudaras | escudase |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escudara | escudase |
| Nosotros / as | escudáramos | escudásemos |
| Vosotros / as | escudarais | escudaseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escudaran | escudasen |
| Vos | escudaras | escudase |
The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.
It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | escudare |
| Tú | escudares |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escudare |
| Nosotros / as | escudáremos |
| Vosotros / as | escudareis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escudaren |
| Vos | escudares |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “shield!” and “don’t shield!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | escuda | no escudes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | escude | no escude |
| Nosotros / as | escudemos | no escudemos |
| Vosotros / as | escudad | no escudéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | escuden | no escuden |
| Vos | escudá | no escudes |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya escudado |
| Tú | hayas escudado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya escudado |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos escudado |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis escudado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan escudado |
| Vos | hayas escudado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera escudado / hubiese escudado |
| Tú | hubieras escudado / hubieses escudado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera escudado / hubiese escudado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos escudado / hubiésemos escudado |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais escudado / hubieseis escudado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran escudado / hubiesen escudado |
| Vos | hubieras escudado / hubieses escudado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere escudado |
| Tú | hubieres escudado |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere escudado |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos escudado |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis escudado |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren escudado |
| Vos | hubieres escudado |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté escudando |
| Tú | estés escudando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté escudando |
| Nosotros / as | estemos escudando |
| Vosotros / as | estéis escudando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén escudando |
| Vos | estés escudando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera escudando / estuviese escudando |
| Tú | estuvieras escudando / estuvieses escudando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera escudando / estuviese escudando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos escudando / estuviésamos escudando |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais escudando / estuvieseis escudando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera escudando / estuviese escudando |
| Vos | estuvieras escudando / estuvieses escudando |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere escudando |
| Tú | estuvieres escudando |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere escudando |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos escudando |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis escudando |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere escudando |
| Vos | estuvieres escudando |
Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.
There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.
The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos escudás |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos escudaste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos escudabas |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos escudarías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos escudarás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos escudes |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos escudaras / Vos escudase |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos escudá |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no escudes |